FILE - In this July 7, 2015 file photo, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, right, is led into the courtroom by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, left, and Assistant District Attorney Diana Garciaor, center, for his arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco. Jurors ended their fifth day of deliberations Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, without reaching a verdict in the murder trial that sparked a national debate over immigration policy. Jurors are deciding whether Garcia Zarate meant to shoot Steinle in 2015 or if they believe his claim that the the shooting was accidental. (Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) U.S. immigration officials say they will deport a Mexican man acquitted of murder in the shooting of woman on a San Francisco pier that touched off a fierce debate over immigration.

Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan said Thursday that immigration officials will take custody of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate once his case concludes.

A jury found Garcia Zarate not guilty in the 2015 death of Kate Steinle. Jurors did convict him of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Garcia Zarate had been deported five times and was wanted for a sixth deportation when the shooting happened. He said it was an accident.

Under a sanctuary city law, the San Francisco sheriff’s department had released Garcia Zarate from jail despite a federal immigration request to detain him for deportation